Chapter 99: Ch137. Black Nest
Kurt knew that the voice he had heard was not coming from that huge snake.
It was coming from much further away, from somewhere much deeper in that swampy forest.
So he knew that, if he wanted to understand what it meant, he had to kill that Beast, and proceed to the bottom of that damp mass of trees and dead water.
But the snake was a much tougher and more insistent adversary than Kurt had imagined.
It moved swiftly through the marshy terrain and slithered through the trees as if it were part of them.
Kurt wanted to be a little more honest with himself as he watched the swift, fluid movements of this enormous beast.
It was tough, all right.
It was insistent and persistent.
That’s for sure.
But as Kurt dodged the snake’s strikes, repelled the attacks of its fangs, and dodged the jets of venom it spewed out...
Kurt began to accept the fact that it wasn’t strong at all.
’What level will this Nest be?’ Kurt sighed, bored, as he leapt into the air to dodge a headbutt.
As he dodged and dodged, his thoughts wandered from the battlefield.
And no matter how much he thought about other things, his instincts always allowed him to dodge, block, evade, and even counter-attack with his fists.
But Kurt was beginning to get bored with the ease of fighting.
’That’s it... Time to end this little game.’
Kurt thought about how tough the reptile’s scales were and thought it would be a good idea to take his new toy for a test run.
The small black window that was the dimensional rift where Kurt had started to store his items opened in front of him in the blink of an eye.
And in another blink, two metal circles found themselves in his hands.
"Let’s see how tough you really are..."
***
"Are you really telling me that Kato-san has been in a Black Nest before?" Yamamoto asked, looking at Evellyn in disbelief.
"I can’t tell if it was a Black Nest..." Evellyn replied, as Nikolai ran after Robby, leaving Yamamoto’s men dizzy, looking from side to side.
"Don’t these Americans have any sense of concern?" Tousen asked, glancing at Aka, while she just rolled her eyes at the pair made up of the young man and the little boy, who at that moment seemed more like a pair of children, in fact, than a child accompanied by someone who should be minimally mature.
"Go figure..." Aka retorted. "I thought they’d be at least a little more concerned about your friend. After all, he just walked into a bloody Black Nest on his own..."
Tousen stopped to think about what Aka had just said, and for a moment, his thoughts went back to a few hours ago, earlier in the morning.
When he had had the balls to challenge Kurt to a duel.
Either the youngling would die in that Nest, or Tousen couldn’t imagine what would happen in the arena in three days’ time.
The mere thought of that uncertainty sent shivers down the spine of the second-in-command of the Karasu no Uta guild.
"... But the three years Kurt spent missing were spent inside a Nest." Evellyn continued. "And when he returned, he seemed like someone completely different. More mature, perhaps, but certainly much stronger."
Yamamoto put his hand to his chin, frowning very slightly.
His expression carried an air of questioning.
He inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly.
Until he suddenly gasped at the conclusion he had reached.
"Three years... The incident at BWA... Kato-san can’t be-"
"But he is." Evellyn retorted, before the guild master could finish his thought. "He’s the one who killed Rhegal Vir’Dun, who was disguised as the principal of the academy, and caused all the commotion among the Ishir group, culminating in the situation we’re in now."
Yamamoto couldn’t hold back his laughter after Evellyn said it like that.
"You know that you practically said that Kato-san is to blame for you becoming fugitives, right?"
"If I’d said that, you’d basically be admitting that your country, you, and the other Japanese guilds went through a lot of vexatious situations by believing so vehemently that the Ishir were really enemies of humanity, for nothing. Right?"
Yamamoto’s smile disappeared completely the moment Evellyn finished her sentence.
"I know that you are my guests, and that I have offered you my full hospitality until the day of the Evaluation Process..." The guild master said. "But I think it would be interesting for you, little girl, to learn to hold your tongue." His tone became more and more threatening, yet so veiled and low that only she could hear it at that moment. "Don’t forget that you’re not in your own country... Which means that you and your friends are under our rules."
But the realization that the Kurt Blake who had entered the Black Nest was that Kurt Blake who had caused Rhegal Vir’Dun’s death...
That realization sent a shiver down guild master Yamamoto’s spine.
***
The protruding blades, attached to the two metal circles, spun rapidly in Kurt’s hands, while the body of the snake in front of him bled, moving more and more slowly with each passing moment.
The first moment Kurt shot towards the snake, he was already prepared to feel some resistance coming from the reptile’s scales.
But he never expected the [MOON SHADOW] to be so effective that it could break through the resistance of that skin so easily.
The only problem was that Kurt’s enemy seemed to have much more vitality than any other Beast he had ever faced.
’What the hell is this Beast, anyway?
Kurt ran, jumped, advanced.
And all the while, he shredded, shredded, and shredded.
But the snake just didn’t seem to want to die.
And that made Kurt angrier and angrier.
’Keep your cool above all else.’ Kurt remembered K’s words, once, when they were practicing in a deserted corner of the city, crowded with Beasts of all kinds and levels. ’The more you let your emotions get the better of you, the more you give your enemies the chance to exploit your openings.’
Kurt understood this when, in the midst of his thoughts, he let the snake open its mouth and squirt an absurd amount of poison at him.
Kurt’s first thought was ’Holy shit!
He was ready to feel the heat of the acid eating away at his armor, and the pain of it eating away at his skin.
But, surprisingly, there was no heat, no pain.
What there was instead was the characteristic beeping of the system in Kurt’s mind.
[THE TITLE - MASTER OF ALL POISONS - IS IN USE]
[NO POISON OR SUBSTANCE WITH SIMILAR PROPERTIES WILL HAVE AN EFFECT ON YOU]
Kurt vowed never to take his mind off the battlefield again.
"Because of that, I’m going to kill you quickly, as a way of thanking you for reminding me of this title." He sighed.
In an instant, Kurt’s legs moved at a frightening speed, and immediately, several afterimages of him formed around the great serpent.
And in the next instant, all the afterimages disappeared completely, leaving only a single Kurt standing in front of the reptile’s huge open mouth.
Not even a second passed during that short interval between Kurt’s movement and its conclusion.
But it seemed that time had completely stopped in that part of the swampy forest.
And when time started moving again, countless deep cuts appeared as if by magic on the giant snake’s skin, spurting bright red blood everywhere.
And finally, the snake fell, lifeless, floating in the still waters of those marshy lakes.
[YOU HAVE SLAUGHTERED THE SWAMP BEAST - SHAKHATHUR: THE GUARDIAN OF THE DEAD WATERS]
[THE SWAMP QUEEN AWAITS]
Kurt raised an eyebrow.
’Was that her voice I heard?’
He stopped to pick up the core of the Beast, and pull out some scales.
Perhaps they wouldn’t have much value as a sale item, or even any value at all, but what mattered to Kurt was that he could keep these items, and perhaps, at some point, give them to someone who could create a bestial item.
It might be the first time he had laid eyes on an item he had only heard about in the darkest corners of the internet.
’Master...?’ Kurt heard the familiar voice sounding close to him, as if it were behind him, or even beside him.
Kurt’s lips curved slightly upwards.
"I’ve been worried about you, Groth... I wondered how long it would be before I could hear your voice again."
Kurt’s shadow seemed to increase in size for an instant, and from it, a wolf cub emerged.
It was no bigger than an arm, but it looked a little stronger and more recomposed than the first time Kurt had seen it, just after returning to his home world.
’Can I eat?’ Groth asked, and his voice sounded weak and waning in Kurt’s mind.
"Eat...?" Kurt was at a loss for words for a few seconds, until he looked at the carcass of the beast before him, and his eyes widened in surprise and understanding.
